Pig industry professionals study global demand, profitability at Alltech seminar

A recent Alltech Pig Solutions Seminar focused on performance versus profit as pig industry professionals looked at global population growth, a change in demand and the challenges of meeting that demand while continuing to do business.
“A change of focus is required,” said Patrick Charlton, Alltech’s European regional director. “Seventy percent of the growth in global meat demand will come from Asia. Who will produce this meat? Europe has held its ground in terms of technical development and ability, but Brazil and the U.S. continue to have the lowest cost of production. It’s time for all regions to find the performance-profit balance to be able to provide for this new population dynamic and keep pork as the number one global animal protein.”
Of the 110 industry professionals surveyed at the seminar:

• 80% believe that 30 pigs weaned per sow per year is realistic.
• Opinions were divided over whether the carbon footprint of pork will become increasingly important over the next decade, with 69% agreeing that it will be increasingly important and 20% disagreeing.
• 88% of attendees agree that managing herd health is one of the industry’s biggest challenges.
• In terms of programmed nutrition and metabolic imprinting, 23% think that it will impact greatly on feed efficiency alone and 44% think that it will impact greatly on feed efficiency, pig health and product quality.
• Attendees were divided again on the issue of feed costs, with 57% agreeing that low feed costs are a thing of the past and 35% disagreeing with this statement.
• 35% think that the recent contamination scares in China will result in more stringent regulations enforced on feed suppliers, animal producers and processors.
• 29.5% also think that the contamination scare will make consumers more aware of potential contaminants within the food chain.